Vuelta a España Winners

The end of the summer cycling season is marked by the Vuelta a Espana, or the Tour of Spain, as it is commonly called. Along with the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, it takes its place as one of the iconic cycling events in the world. The inaugural Vuelta a Espana started in 1935. Just like the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, media was responsible behind the creation of the tournament. Conservative newspaper Diario Informaciones came up with the idea to host an event in Spain similar to the Tour de France.

It has proven to be an overwhelming success with a large number of visitors coming to witness the event every year. Vuelta 2018 is also expected to bring in a lot of interest when the event kicks off on August 20. The organisers have made some key changes to the 2018 route by moving back to the hilly and mountainous stages towards the back end of the race. For 2015, Vuelta winners list was substantially influenced by the presence of numerous mountainous stages in the opening 10 days of the race.

Winners

Vuelta

Year

Winner

Сountry

Сommand

70

2015

Fabio Aru

Italy

UCI ProTeam Astana

69

2014

Alberto Contador

Spain

Tinkoff–Saxo

68

2013

Chris Horner

USA

Trek–Segafredo

67

2012

Alberto Contador

Spain

Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank

66

2011

Juan José Cobo

Spain

Geox–TMC

65

2010

Vincenzo Nibali

Italy

Liquigas–Doimo

64

2009

Alejandro Valverde

Spain

Movistar Team

63

2008

Alberto Contador

Spain

Astana Pro Team

62

2007

Denis Menchov

Russia

Rabobank

61

2006

Alexandre Vinokourov

Kazakhstan

Liberty Seguros-Würth

60

2005

Roberto Heras

Spain

Liberty Seguros

59

2004

Roberto Heras

Spain

Liberty Seguros

58

2003

Roberto Heras

Spain

U.S. Postal Service

History

La Vuelta today covers around 3250 km, but the race was substantially longer in the opening few editions. The third edition in 1941 saw riders cover an astonishing 4400 km across 22 stages. Vuelta 2018 will run for 3277 km across 21 stages. *our of Spain is part of the three races that are otherwise known as the Grand Tour since it is a multistage event covering the length and breadth of a country. La Vuelta is especially tough amongst the trio since it takes place towards the end of the cycling season and riders are quite tired by the time they arrive into the event.

Vuelta 2018 will start from Laias – Castrelo de Miño on August 20 with a team time trial before entering into the mountainous stages (Lugones – Lagos de Covadonga) on August 29. The race has its conclusion at Las Rozas – Madrid on September 11.

1

Spain

32 wins

Wins record

Roberto Heras (4)

The last winner

Alberto Contador (2014)

2

France

9 wins

Wins record

Р Bernard Hinault (2)

The last winner

Laurent Jalabert (1995)

3

Belgium

7 wins

Wins record

Gustaaf Deloor (2)

The last winner

Freddy Maertens (1977)

4

Italy

6 wins

Wins record

Vincenzo Nibali (1)

The last winner

Fabio Aru (2015)

5

Switzerland

5 wins

Wins record

Tony Rominger (3)

The last winner

Alex Zülle (1997)

6

Germany

3 wins

Wins record

Rudi Altig (1)

The last winner

Jan Ullrich (1999)

Winners and Overall Domination

Just as in the case of Tour de France, there have been some riders who have dominated the race over the years. There were not many repeat winners during the early part of the race. Since the 1990s, though, Tony Rominger and Roberto Heras have been on the podium more often than not. They have three wins apiece. Spain’s shining light of the modern era in the world of cycling – Alberto Contador – has also been a recipient of the red jersey. His victory came in 2008, 2012, and 2014 through general classifications.

It is not a surprise that Vuelta has been dominated more by Spanish riders and teams. In terms of stage victories, Spain leads the charge with a whopping 544 wins with Belgium coming second with 211 wins followed by Italy with 176 wins. Spain also has the most number of jerseys – 649 – with France coming a distant second with 155 jerseys. Belgium are not far behind with 140 jerseys in the Tour of Spain.